American Crossroads Plans Anti-Obama Push, Romney Looks to Close Deal in Pa.

President Obama and first lady Michelle Obama walk with their daughters Sasha, second right, and Malia from the White House to St. John’s Church for Easter Service. Photo by Mandel Ngan/AFP/Getty Images.

With the day mostly quiet on the campaign trail and 30,000 kids and family members at the White House rolling Easter eggs on the South Lawn, it could be one of the last somewhat friendly days of this election season.

As the New York Times’ Jim Rutenberg and Jeff Zeleny reported over the weekend, American Crossroads is preparing a May ad blitz against President Obama.

They reported that the conservative super-PAC is behind in its initial timeframe thanks to the prolonged primary, but the plan is to run the television ad campaign from “May through July, which they believe is a critical period for making an impression on voters, before summer vacations and the party conventions take place.”

Steven J. Law, the group’s leader, said the ads would address the challenge of unseating a president who polls show is viewed favorably even though many people disapprove of his handling of the economy. Basically, Mr. Law said, “how to dislodge voters from him.”

Those spots could likely be running in tandem with the remaining Republican primary contests, with all of the candidates saying they plan to compete for the long haul.

Former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum is spending Monday with his ailing 3-year-old daughter Bella, but he intends to resume campaigning Tuesday. Mitt Romney’s campaign has made the decision to try and close the deal in the April 24 Pennsylvania primary, with plans to run $2.9 million worth of television ads in the Wilkes-Barre, Scranton, Erie, Altoona and Philadelphia media markets, reports Salena Zito of the Pittsburgh Tribune Review.

She also writes that the pro-Romney super-PAC Restore Our Future is airing commercials on cable channels statewide.

But here’s the signal to determine just how seriously Romney takes Santorum: If the spots are positive (ads that focus on the former Massachusetts governor), then he’s running a general election, battleground-state campaign. If Romney goes negative on Santorum, then the goal is to end the GOP nomination battle in the Keystone State once and for all.

Just in case anyone out there sees a mathematical path for Santorum, consider this report from Ben Swann of Fox 19 in Cincinnati. It’s one of the most comprehensive explainers we’ve seen about the delegate selection process, focusing on how the North Dakota Republican Party is rallying around Romney to deliver him the state’s delegates even though Santorum won the Super Tuesday caucuses.

517343062730627Jobs Report Prompts More Questions Over Size of Labor ForceNew jobs numbers released Friday showed unemployment ticking down to 8.2 percent, the lowest since January 2009, despite only 121,000 jobs added in March. Judy Woodruff and The Economist's Greg Ip discuss what's behind the weaker-than-expected report and why many Americans appear to be dropping out of the labor force altogether.2012-04-06 18:03:00disabled22203175138Fz03Nto6z8

Finally, Mark Shields and Ramesh Ponnuru, filling in for David Brooks, talked about what the numbers mean for the President Obama’s re-election hopes.

547353063130631Shields, Ponnuru on U.S. Economy, Santorum's Standing in GOPSyndicated columnist Mark Shields and the National Review's Ramesh Ponnuru, sitting in for David Brooks, discuss the week's top news including a weaker-than expected March jobs report, American economic attitudes, Mitt Romney's polling problems, Rick Santorum's standing in the GOP and presidential pressure on the Supreme Court.2012-04-06 18:33:00disabled2220324371o0YTxoz4zQ0

This week, the Obama campaign will go after Romney as Senate Democrats force a vote on the Buffett Rule. Vice President Joe Biden is expected to weigh in, all with this message, per the campaign: “Governor Romney will have to explain this week why he believes the he and the wealthiest Americans should pay a lower income tax rate than middle class Americans.”

Politico’s Alex Isenstadt notices that supporters of Texas Rep. Ron Paul may not be having much of an impact on the presidential race, but they are running down-ballot across the country. From the story: “Jared Paine, a Paul supporter who operates a website that tracks the campaigns of libertarian-minded candidates, said he counted around two dozen active Paul backers who are running for House or Senate seats and another 200 or so who are seeking local offices — almost all of them running as Republicans.”

The New York Times’ Michael Barbaro writes about the friendship forged in the mid-1970s between Romney and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, which “has resulted in an unusually frank exchange of advice and insights on topics like politics, economics and the Middle East.”

Roll Call’s John Stanton scooped Friday that House Majority Leader Eric Cantor, R-Va., donated $25,000 to the anti-incumbent super-PAC that targeted Illinois Rep. Don Manzullo in a Republican primary against Rep. Adam Kinzinger. There’s a question about whether that money actually helped Kinzinger. (Don’t forget the Wall Street Journal report earlier this year that the National Republican Congressional Committee “has warned that companies who help campaign against incumbents might find their services are no longer needed by some parts of the Republican Party.”)

The Washington Post’s Aaron Blake on the decline of the Tea Party’s popularity.

On Friday, California Gov. Jerry Brown commuted the sentence of Shirley Ree Smith, 51, who has already served 10 years of the 15-years-to-life sentence she received after being charged with shaking her infant grandson to death.

Roll Call’s Joshua Miller has the primer on Rep. Charlie Rangel’s re-election bid in New York, a contest defined by ethics issues and redistricting.

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